NYU, French climate ambassador hold climate policy roundtable

On September 21, the Global Climate Finance Project at NYU Law hosted a roundtable on climate finance with Serge Lepeltier, the French Ambassador for Climate Negotiations. Ambassador Lepeltier and members of his senior staff, preparing for the upcoming international climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, discussed climate policy and politics with NYU faculty and fellows and the Project’s partners, Environmental Defense Fund and the World Resources Institute.

Climate finance (the provision of public and private funds to finance climate mitigation and adaptation) is at the heart of the ongoing international climate discussions. Global agreement on climate change will not be achieved without developed and developing countries agreeing on the amount, sources, and governance arrangements for climate finance.

“With progress in Durban looking doubtful, the importance of tapping sub-state climate initiatives action is even more important.” said Professor Richard Stewart, who chaired the roundtable. “The Ambassador was particularly interested in discussing what was happening in U.S. states and how this might be replicated elsewhere domestically and internationally.” Sub-national initiatives like California’s carbon dioxide emissions trading system could not only reduce emissions in the U.S. but also in developing countries by being linked with new international trading mechanisms.

This was Lepeltier’s second visit to NYU Law for discussions with the Project. He accompanied Nathalie Koscuisko-Morizet, the French Minister for Ecology, when she participated in an experts’ panel and workshop on climate finance in April 2011.

The Global Climate Finance Project is a joint venture of NYU Law’s Institute for International Law and Justice and the Frank J. Guarini Center for Environmental and Land Use Law. The project focuses on the design of climate finance institutions required to ensure that the radically decentralized climate finance system functions. The regime must not only mobilize needed resources and ensure efficient and effective use of these resources for climate protection and low-carbon development, but also build mutual trust and confidence through broadly acceptable and effective governance arrangements.